Dark Side Of The Moon: Werewolves, Vampires and One Very Awkward Girl
by WishIHadATimeTurner
Summary: :AuVerse, second story in the series, see notes within: Sierra Rose Barrett's used to having her life turned upside down. She grew up with it happening quite a lot. But when she loses her mother, and she elects to go to Forks and live with her uncle, Charlie, her life soon gets turned upside down in more ways than one. What will Embry Call have to do with it?
1. disclaimers and summary

Disclaimers & Such

I do not, I repeat, I do not own Twilight or it's associated characters. If I owned Twilight, there would have been a lot more shifter influence in the story because I'm team werewolf.

Anyway, I'm not making any money off of this work of fiction, nor am I looking to make my writing better. Reviews are loved, but no flames, please? I realize this is a really generic idea and everyone does it. And I don't actually care. I wanted to do it, so I'm doing it.

I do own my original character, Sierra Rose Barrett and the events I make up for this story.

**WARNING**

**- oocness is a possibility in some cases. Sorry.**

**-auverse**

**-cousinfic**

**-dirty humor and swearing, eventual sex and fluffiness.**

**- other bullshit to come later**

**_Setting_**

**New Moon to start with**

**Will end post breaking dawn**

**Pairing**

**Embry x OC**

**others to be mentioned very very briefly throughout.**

**I have made a few changes to the story. If this makes you upset, sorry. I had to do it to make the story work and flow better. And I had to fix several things that annoyed me also.**

**Also, I realize that Sierra Rose is Bella and Charlotte's cousin. I've taken the liberty of giving Renee a younger sister named Kate who's recently passed on. Sierra Rose pretty much grew up in Renee and Charlie's life, they raised her when her real mother, Kate couldn't. Kate was an addict and she drank a lot, she had the habit of just dropping Sierra off and disappearing for days or weeks, sometimes even months at a time. When Sierra was 13 however, her grandmother (on her father's side) a really, really rich woman named Genevive, stepped in and took custody. **

**She had her put in a 'boarding school' of sorts, and Sierra's own mother had only just gotten her back and moved with her to a new town in Louisiana, because as part of the custody case, she had to remain within visiting distance of Sierra's grandmother. **

**With the death of her mother, Sierra's chosen to live with her uncle Charlie instead of going to her grandmother. They don't mesh very well together and the only real reason her grandmother wants her in the first place is to sort of 'groom her' into what she thinks Sierra should be, and to remain close to Sierra's father who's also deceased. To her, Sierra is the only thing remaining of her son. She doesn't actually love her in the conventional sense.**

My Life's Turned Upside Down... Again.

Hi. My name's Sierra Rose Barrett. Most of you all know my cousin Bella already, unfortunately. But this story isn't about her, it's about me and how my life got turned totally upside down. I'm only 16, I didn't expect to lose the only parent I had left just when she was finally actually starting to be a parent.

I didn't expect to once again be uprooted. But this time? I got to choose where I went and I chose what felt like home. I'm moving back to Forks to live with my uncle Charlie and my cousins Bella and Charlotte. I will not only have to face a grandmother who only wants me to turn me into something I'm not, but I'm also going to have to face accepting the existance of things that should not be real, deal with my cousin Bella's supreme dramatics all while trying to figure out just why the hell I've suddenly managed to fall for the one guy who's sort of always been one of my biggest childhood tormentors, Embry Call.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that somehow, Bella manages to get us all dragged right smack into the middle of the insanity that she created?

Because she did.

This is my story and how I finally find the stability, the family and the love I didn't even really know I was looking for.

This is what happened when my life got turned upside down.. Again.


	2. i'm coming home

A defeated sigh escaped her lips as the car of her aunt Renee stopped at the curb of her uncle Charlie's house. Her aunt looked at her and asked, "Are you absolutely sure you don't want to just stay in Florida with Phil and I? We'd love to have you, Sierra."

She shook her head and said quietly, "No offense, Aunt Nee.. But Forks feels more like home. It's just always felt more like home." adding as an afterthought, "Besides.. I don't wanna be in the way, I mean you and Phil just got the house to yourselves."

"You won't be in the way, Sierra. You're never in the way." Renee interjected as Sierra gave her a stern look and said "I am. Trust me."

"Just because your mother said that, Sierra.. It doesn't make it true." Renee said as she sighed and honked the horn, waiting. She was here to drop off Sierra and talk to Charlie about their oldest daughter, Bella. Apparently, she was taking this breakup much harder than Renee felt she should for a kid her age. This concerned Renee.

Bella glared at her father and turned on her heel, her hand in her hair, her other one resting on her hip. "Really, Charlie? You call mom?"

Her father shrugged and said "She's coming to drop off your cousin Sierra anyway. And we all need to talk about your problems lately." earning a "Thank You Jesus" mutter from Charlotte, Bella's younger sister. Bella turned and gave Charlotte an icy glare as she said "This is all your fault."

"Umm, how about no? You're the fucking idiot who took it upon herself to dive off a cliff in a storm, hit a rock under water and damn near get herself killed." Charlotte snapped as Jacob quickly grabbed hold of his pintsized girlfriend, whispering in her ear. Whatever he said calmed her, and Bella sighed, gave him a hurt look as she said simply, "Do you two have to rub it in?"

Charlotte spoke up, changing the subject as she spooned Lucky Charms into her mouth and asked her father, "So.. Taking it that my lovely aunt is either off the wagon or she ran off and left Sierra with whoever, huh?"

Charlie sighed and shook his head then said quietly, "Car accident. Your aunt was sober, leaving an AA meeting, actually and on her way to pick up Sierra from that mixed martial arts class she takes at the rec center where they live, and a drunk driver swerved into her lane of traffic, hit her head on. Of course, Genieveve, Sierra's father's mother is now trying to prove your aunt was an unfit mother to begin with."

Charlotte winced and said aloud, "Yikes. So basically, she's gonna live with us?"

Charlie nodded and smiling a little said "Yeah, she told your mother she'd rather live here, this felt more like home to her than their place in Florida."

Bella muttered dryly, "I don't see how. None of us can open our mouths without arguing lately." as Charlie gave her a firm scolding look and said "You.. If I were you, Isabella Marie Swan.. I'd keep quiet for now. You're already in enough hot water to last a lifetime with both your mother and I. And leave Sierra alone. You know she's had a rough life."

Bella gave him a dirty look and then muttered, "Still don't see why she has to come here. We only have 3 bedrooms in this place.. Where the hell will we put her? The attic?"

The quiet voice from behind her had Charlotte and Jacob choking and laughing as Sierra mused aloud, "And there she is, everyone's favorite ice queen.. My cousin, Isabella. Awww, did you get dumped? Or did you just start your period AND eat a supersized bowl of bitch flakes?"

Bella growled and stomped out of the room to the den, sliding the pocket door shut behind her so that her parents could lecture her in peace. To say that she and Sierra Rose hadn't ever gotten along would be a huge understatement.

Nope, they'd pretty much hated each other since they were 6 and 7. And it'd remained that way, no matter what ages they became. They couldn't even stay in the same room without fighting or at least arguing with each other.

Charlotte turned to her cousin and said quietly while holding her hand up for a high five, "Nice to see you still got it."

"Hon? I never lost it. Not where she's concerned." Sierra said with a semi smile as she grabbed a spoon, started digging into Charlotte's bowl without even asking if it were alright. Through a mouth full she asked quietly, "So.. Did Charlie tell you?"

"Which part?" Charlotte asked as she looked at her cousin and sighed then said quietly, "Yeah, he told us about Aunt Kate."

"Mhmm.. She was finally getting her head on straight, she was off the drugs, away from the booze.. She'd gotten a job at some beauty salon and BOOM.. End of story. Yeah, tell me how that's supposed to inspire me to give a shit about humanity as a whole?" Sierra muttered quietly as she picked at the cereal Charlotte shoved in front of her, biting her lower lip.

Here she was again, and once again, for probably the thousandth time in her life, her life was being turned upside down. But this time, it wasn't because of her mother's choices.

This time, it was because of someone else's choices.

The thought was a sobering one in itself if Sierra had to admit it.

"Heard you got thrown out of that private school your grandma got you enrolled in?" Charlotte asked as Sierra shrugged and muttered, "As usual, I didn't fit in with those people. She wants to take me back there, you know.. She wants to groom me for 'high society life'." Sierra mocked in an overdramatic Southern accent.

Charlotte tried picturing Sierra in fancy clothes, having to actually use the right fork at a dinner table and the thought had her laughing, clutching her sides as Sierra began to laugh also, even if it wasn't the same loud and happy laugh she usually gave in these situations. "Why'd you get thrown out?" Charlotte asked in curiousity as she looked at her cousin and laughed when Sierra said "Apparently playing cards, sneaking off campus to go into town and play at the arcade and picking fights with the other girls in the school is highly frowned upon. The place was a damn prison if you ask me. But hey, it was school, and it did keep me away from the worst of my mother's 'episodes', right?" as she sighed to herself.

Sierra turned to Charlotte a few seconds later and asked in a whisper, "So.. Is it true? Did Ms. High and Mighty finally go offa her rocker?"

Jacob spoke up as he nodded and said quietly and with a slight grin, "Oh it's true alright. And we've all been suffering the fallout because of it."

Charlotte muttered to herself "And when I see Cullen, I'm gonna drive bamboo under his nails after I shave all that so called perfect hair off his fuckin head and beat him 9 ways to Sunday."

"That bad, huh?" Sierra asked as Jacob spoke up and said "She's tried to break Charlotte and I up at least a dozen times."

"Whoa.. You two are?" Sierra asked, as she looked at her former best guy friend, and then at the cousin who was more like a sister to her than a slightly older (by a few months) cousin, actually and gaped at the two of them before asking quietly, "What the fuck happened to you, Black? Did you just go Hulk on us?"

Charlotte and Jacob exchanged looks for a moment and Jacob shovelled cereal into his mouth as he said casually, "Somethin like that, Si."

Sierra noticed the looks exchanged of course, but she said nothing for now. Charlotte would tell her if she felt like Sierra needed to know. They really didn't keep much from each other.

Outside, Embry phased into wolf form, getting ready for his shift on patrol, when the smell filled his nose. And due to instincts he couldn't control, he found himself following that scent. And it lead him right to the back of the Swan house. He stood there after phasing back, hidden out of sight, trying to figure out what the hell was going on, why he'd smell such a strong scent coming from the house of Jacob's imprint. Shrugging it off, he muttered to himself quietly, "False alarm, Call.. You obviously want to imprint so badly that you thought you smelled something, and you wound up here, because you know Jacob's over here, and you want to tell him." before disappearing, in his wolf form, into the woods in front of him.

The sun sank lower in the sky, and Sierra froze at the window as she watched a rather large gray wolf take off into the woods, her own cereal bowl clattering into the sink noisily as she dropped it. She muttered to herself quietly, "Nope, that wasn't fucking weird.. Not in the slighest, Sierra." as she called out to her cousin Charlotte, "Hey! You are aware that the wolves here are fuckin ginormous.. Right?"

In the dining room, Jacob and Charlotte exchanged puzzled looks for a moment and then Charlotte called out, "It's because Forks isn't exactly an overly populated area, Si.. They can eat more, they get bigger." while biting her lower lip and leaning in, whispering to Jacob, "Do I want to know what she just saw?"

"That's what I'm wondering myself." Jacob mused as he kissed Charlotte then called out, "What'd it look like?"

"Gray, black spots on it's face, I think.. Hell, Jake, do you really think I'm standing in here with damn binoculars or somethin?" Sierra called back as she finished rinsing her cereal bowl out, put it into the dishwasher. She rubbed her arms as a sudden outbreak of the chills rose in her arms.

"Nothing off about this place at all." she muttered to herself quietly as she emerged back into the dining room, flopped down next to her cousin, the two of them and Jacob trying to catch up on what'd been going on in their lives since they'd last seen each other.

Out of nowhere, Sierra asked casually, "That guy.. The one I gave the right hook to for snatching my Hot Wheels.. He around?"

Charlotte giggled and then said casually, "Yeah, Si.. Your boyfriend Embry is still around here." watching Sierra's face turn blood red and ducking safely out of the way when Sierra gave her a dirty look and balled up her fist playfully and muttered, "I told you that in secret, Char."

Jacob snickered a little as he realized what must have just happened. This could get very interesting, indeed. Embry and Sierra had a relationship similar to his own with Charlotte when they'd all been kids. Only Sierra was probably more of a tomboy at the time.. As she apparently still was.

"So.. Who am I bunking with?" Sierra asked as Charlotte smiled and said "Me, duh. Did you honestly think queen Bella Frosty Ass was going to give an inch of her so called sanctuary up? Besides, it'll be like a sleepover every night now."

"Mhmm. Complete with prank calls, ghost stories and sugar rushes." Sierra muttered, feeling a little better. At least she was here where maybe she could eventually heal from her loss, where she might feel human again one day. At least she was in a place that was a comfort to her. But her stomach churned as she thought about how right now, back in Lousiaina, her father's mother was grooming every lawyer on her payroll to dig and not stop until they found some way to force her into having to live there.

Just as a way to stick it to the mother she'd just lost, whom her father's mom hated more than anything else, one final time.. Even though her mom wasn't alive to see it.

She just hoped that very thing didn't happen. She didn't want that life. She wanted a normal and happy, free life. She wanted to feel like she was at home.

Which was why when asked by the social worker, she'd given them her aunt Renee's former home address and then had them call her aunt Renee, get her aunt to bring her here.

All she wanted at this point was to finally have stability, to finally be happy.

The question remained.. Would that actually happen for her?


	3. truces

"And you're sure you guys want me tagging along on a date?" Sierra asked as Charlotte stopped in mid brush and nodding said with a smile, "Duh. I wouldn't have asked, if I didn't. Besides, it's not exactly a date tonight.. It's a group thing.. Sort of.. We're all trying to cheer up Embry..."

Sierra got a strange feeling that Charlotte was reverting to childhood habits and playing cupid, but she said nothing except, "Char... I'm not the best person to be around right now.. And we fought like cats and dogs.. You really sure this is gonna go well?" while digging through her bags, trying to find something at least halfway decent to wear tonight, to a Christmas tree lighting thing.

She really didn't date much, to be quite honest. And she really didn't actually go out much with friends.. Before, there'd been no g uarantee what those friends might see, if they were to come to her actual house, what state her mother would be in when she returned, it'd all just been way too risky.

Then she'd been in a boarding school where she hated all the girls in her own grade too much to venture out with them places. Had she done that, someone might not have came back, or they might have came back missing a few limbs, or with a black eye or something.

Now, she just wasn't sure if she could handle an outing. She was still reeling from the loss of her mother, the rollercoaster she'd been on for the past week and a half now. Adding Embry, a former childhood tormentor to the mix was probably like pouring gasoline on a raging fire.

Charlotte sighed and said simply, "You're coming, Si. Dad's right. You don't need to be here alone. I know it hurts. But the best thing you can do right now, is be with your family, and the people that actually love you. To keep your mind off of things, ya know?"

Sierra nodded and flipped through the radio, stopping on a station playing Hallelujah, humming along. Charlotte stopped and stared at her cousin, brow raised. "You can sing?"

Sierra shrugged quietly, slipped on her glasses and slid her feet into the worn out engineer boots before grabbing a chunky knit baby blue v neck sweater to pull on over a baby blue tanktop that she'd grabbed from Charlotte's closet, which they were sharing currently, at least until her own stuff came from her old place in Louisiana. "This is okay, right?"

Charlotte studied her cousin a moment then smiling said "It's pretty. Wanna use my makeup or anything? I mean I know your stuff's not here yet."

"I don't actually wear the crap much." Sierra said as she squirmed at the dressiness of the clothes. She'd wound up borrowing some of Charlotte's things, ultimately, and to be blunt, what she wore right now was probably the most dressed up she'd been to just go hang out with friends.

"You're pretty without it. So's Bella. I'm the one who has to layer the shit on." Charlotte said as she continued to put on her makeup, sitting on a white washed wooden vanity's counter.

"You actually don't need it, Charlotte. You're way prettier than me." Sierra admitted as she added, "So's Bella. She's just always so damn annoying and bitchy, that kinda gets lost in translation."

"Yeah.. Know what she told me when I decided to be nice and ask if she and Angela wanted to come with us all tonight?" Charlotte asked, pausing, mascara wand raised as Sierra asked from where she was currently sprawled across the bed they were sharing for a few days, "What?"

"She had better things to do." Charlotte snickered as Sierra laughed and then said calmly, "Like what? Sit around and talk about how much she misses that disgusting toad?"

"Basically, yeah. She's so damn angsty, I mean seriously.. There's what.. 3 maybe 4 billion other guys on this planet?"

"Exactly." Sierra muttered as she flipped through a magazine from Charlotte's nightstand, grimacing at just the mere thought of someone actually being interested in her succubus of a cousin, Bella.

The honking of a car horn had them both scampering to the large bay window in the room and Sierra called down, "Damn it, Black, calm yourself. We'll be down in a minute, shit."

"Tell my girl she doesn't need a mask." Jacob called up, snickering as he saw Embry's entire face contort at the sound of Sierra's voice, then his nose wrinkle as if he were smelling something.

"Something wrong back there, Embry?" Jacob asked as Embry muttered calmly, "It's nothing.. I mean.. I think it's nothing. Damn it, I don't know."

Paul burst into laughter as he said aloud, "What if he imprinted on Char, Jake.."

"If he had, moron, he'd have beaten me to it.. Remember? HE phased before me. Now shut your face, Lahote." Jacob said as he looked over at Embry and asked "Are you sure you're alright?"

The heat was practically rolling off of Embry in waves now, the entire front area of Jacob's small Rabbit car felt like a sauna.

The front door opened and Embry's head shot up, he promptly hit his forehead on the dash, he'd been looking down at his hands, trying to refrain from punching Paul,Quil and Seth in their noses. The scent from earlier in the day, sort of a combo of vanilla and cherries filled his nostrils as he watched her walking slowly towards the car.

He gasped and elbowed Jacob, asked in a hiss, "That's not.."

"Sierra?" Jacob asked, trying not to burst into laughter.

"Is it?" Embry asked as Jacob shrugged and asked with a cheeky grin, "Why?"

Embry groaned as he beat the back of his head lightly against the back of the passenger seat and said "Because, jackass.. I just imprinted on her."

The guys looked at each other and then burst into laughter.

"It's not fucking funny." Embry muttered as he frowned and then asked again, "Is it her, Jake?"

"Yes, Embry, it's Sierra. She's moving in with Charlotte and Bella and Charlie. Her mom died." Jacob said calmly as he asked, "Are you gonna be okay, or.."

Taking a few deep breaths, while watching her, really unable to take his eyes off of her in all honesty, he said quietly, "I'm good."

"Good. Because the less that Sam knows, the better off you are.. Look how long he wanted to keep me away from Charlotte.. Or Paul away from Rachel."

Seth chimed in with "And he still tries to keep as much distance as he can between Quil and Claire."

Quil grumbled and Embry said quietly, "She probably still hates me anyway." as he tried to just shrug the whole thing off for now.

Sierra caught sight of him, sitting in the passenger seat and she gasped a little. "I should go back in.. I.. This is a bad idea, Char."

Charlotte shook her head at her cousin and grabbed hold of her hand, laughing as she said quietly, "You can't outrun me, remember?"

"damn it."

"Sierra, just give this a chance? Please?" Charlotte begged, giving her cousin big eyes. Sierra grumbled and said quietly, "Fine.. But he probably still hates me anyway."

Charlotte threw open the passenger door and proclaimed, "Unseat my spot, Call." as Embry glared a moment and then said quietly, "Sierra."

"Embry." Sierra said back just as quietly, the two of them sort of just staring at each other for what seemed like at least an hour, but was in actuality a little over 6 minutes. She slid over Quil and Seth's laps and found herself smooshed across Embry's lap, with her feet on Paul.

Embry tried to ignore the affect her sitting on his lap had on him, but wound up shifting in his seat a little. She wiggled into place and then said aloud, "Damn Jake.. You couldn't just get your dad's truck tonight?"

She could feel his eyes practically burning holes through her, and she felt tense and awkward. Which only got worse when she turned and almost got him in the nose with her elbow. "Shit.. I'm sorry.." she mumbled, her teeth grazing the fleshy lower lip as she held Embry's gaze again and looked at his nose, assessed seconds later, "Well, I didn't break it."

"Surprised. With your bony elbows." Embry grumbled as she dug her tailbone into his thigh and grinned about it a little, shrugging, pretending innocence.

They'd just parked and met up with Jared, Kim, Rachel and Leah when Sierra shivered and muttered a few swear words about having been dragged from the house without her jacket. She blinked when Embry held out his jacket and then stammered, "Uhh... T-thanks." as he shrugged and said "I'm actually pretty warm. Don't spill anything on it."

"Gee.. Way to be a charmer." Sierra muttered as she laughed a little and said "I'll try." while digging in the pouch pocket of the sweater she wore, fishing out a lighter, a partially crushed pack of cigarettes. Charlotte promptly snatched them and Sierra swore a little, pouted and then said "Seriously?"

"Seriously. Those things are disgusting."

"Those things keep me calm." Sierra argued.

"They're bad for you." Embry interjected in a slightly firmer and louder than usual voice, making the other members of the pack and their imprints look at him with a raised brow.

Sierra stared at him a moment, blinking as she said calmly, "Fine.." and turned on her heels, catching up to Jacob and Charlotte.

"What?" Embry snapped at the rest of the pack as Paul snickered and filled the others in on what'd happened, and how Sierra was apparently Embry's imprint.

"Tell the world, Lahote. Go ahead."

"You owe me 40 bucks, Cameron." Seth said in amusement as Embry turned to them and asked, "You seriously bet on this?"

"Sort of, yeah. I mean when you didn't just imprint on someone.." Leah muttered as she fell silent, knowing that the normally calm and quiet male was probably beyond pissed with them right now. "You did want to imprint, right?" she asked as he said quietly, "Yeah.. On a girl who actually liked me to begin with. She hates me."

"Actually, Embry, she doesn't." Charlotte spoke up from behind him, making him jump a mile in the air and swear a little.

"And you know this how?" Embry asked, baffled.

"Because, Embry.. For one thing, she told me a really, really long time ago.. The same night I told her that I didn't actually hate Jakey. And another? She asked about you earlier, and she had a slight panic attack when I told her you might be coming. She's just not good with the whole guy girl thing." Charlotte said as she sipped a hot chocolate and then said "She's looking at those motorcycles. If you're curious?"

Embry nodded, began making his way over. He caught scent and sight of her and walked up behind her, tapping her on the shoulder. She flinched and jumped, then turned around and said "I was just... I was giving you guys all alone time."

"Or you were hiding. You weren't ever really a crowd person, if memory serves." Embry stated as he looked at her. She shrugged and said "Whatever." as she looked at the black and chrome Harley they stood in front of.

"My dad had one of these.. It's one of few things I do remember about him.. About my life before it all went to hell." Sierra muttered as Embry said quietly, "I heard about your mom.. I'm sorry."

Sierra nodded, didn't make a move to turn around. She didn't want him to see her crying, not knowing he'd probably make fun of her for it. She'd never been a really emotional girl, but with everything getting progressively worse and worse, culminating in her mother's death recently, she just felt like everything was crashing down on her and she was completely going to lose her shit on someone if something didn't give, if her life didn't start to get better soon.

"Are you alright, Si?" Embry asked, detecting a slight waver in her voice. She didn't turn around, so he turned her around.

"I'm fine, damn it. I had something in my eye." Sierra muttered as she found herself pulled against him. She let him hug her, she didn't really say anything. Taking a few deep breaths, she looked up at him and said quietly, "I wasn't crying."

"It's okay to cry." Embry said calmly as he looked at her. He could see now that she was the same girl she'd always been, yet on the same token, she was a lot different too. She looked like she was in really, really deep pain. Like everything hurt.

Wiping at her eyes, she forced a smirk on her face as she said casually, "I'm gonna walk to the fireworks display."

He walked beside her quietly, watching her when she wasn't looking.

Sierra could feel his steady gaze on him, but she didn't dare look up. She was still embarassed at herself for moments ago, the sudden overwhelming onslaught of tears that'd taken over when she saw the Harley, thought of her dad, how good her life had been before he died and her mother turned to every other form of comfort than the right one.

They caught up to their group and she flopped onto a blanket beside Charlotte, leaned her head on her cousin's shoulder as Charlotte sighed and whispered, "Did Embry find you?"

"Mhmm.. And I proceeded to make an ass outta myself. As usual." Sierra muttered as she looked over at Embry, just in time to catch him looking down. She leaned back in and whispered to her cousin, "Why's he keep staring at me?"

Charlotte shrugged. Knowing what she knew came with a price. It meant that no matter how badly she wanted to tell Sierra what Jacob was, what his friends were, and what Sierra now meant to Embry, she couldn't.

And that bugged her, because she knew that on some level, it'd sort of be comforting for Sierra to know.. She wasn't alone, no matter how alone she felt right now.

"You can go sit by her, idiot." Quil urged his friend as Leah shifted over, let Embry take her spot while Sierra wasn't looking. He flopped down and then said "The fireworks were better last year." as Sierra looked over at him and shrugging said "Wouldn't know. Last year, I was in some hell hole of a boarding school at Christmas." as she managed a smile and added, "But we shot 'em too.. Kinda snuck a few of the younger girls out, the other girls whose parents didn't come pick them up.. It was great. Until the headmistress caught us all."

Embry stifled a laugh and asked, "What happened?"

"The usual. I got detention, Grams bitched me out when the school called her. Nothing major." Sierra said as she smiled a little and then added, "But it was worth it. Those little girls were miserable, I mean whose parents just fucking leave them, in a school, over holiday break?" while shaking her head.

Embry nodded and then said quietly, "About when we were kids.."

"It's not a big deal, Embry. Shit happens, okay?" Sierra said stiffly as she looked at him and added, "It's all okay. We're past that now."

"Yeah, we are. Truce?" he asked as he held out his hand. She studied him warily and then managed a smile as she put her pinkie around his pinkie and said "Yeah. It couldn't hurt, right?"

They settled back to watch the fireworks quietly.. Maybe they could become friends. Sierra was too jaded and she'd been hurt too much in her life to expect anything else. But it couldn't hurt to hope, right?


	4. friendly flirting in not so locked room

The fighting drove her from the house and into the quiet stillness of the woods. She sank down on a fallen tree that stretched across a small footpath and plugged her earbuds into her ears, the sounds of Metallica blocking out the arguing that continued from the nearby 2 story white house that her uncle and cousins lived in, the place she called home now.

The argument, of course, was over the sudden re-appearance of Bella's creepy boyfriend Edward,via phone call, and a long distance one, at that. She suspected something off with the guy other than being your garden variety douchebag, but she'd been smart enough to keep that to herself and instead, she'd fled to the woods when Charlie and Bella started to argue about his even calling her to begin with.

"Can't she pipe the fuck down, seriously? If uncle Charlie thinks the guy's bad news, he's bad news." she muttered to herself as she stretched and yawned lazily. She knew how Bella was once she got started, the fighting in that house wouldn't stop until princess Bella had gotten her way completely.

Which in itself was completely and utterly stupid.

"If uncle Charlie hadn't been home, I'd totally have decked her." Sierra muttered aloud, hearing a deep and rich sounding laughter from behind her. The pale skinned male stepped into view and raised his hands in defense as he said teasingly, "Don't punch me."

Right away, the hairs on the back of Sierra's neck stood on edge, and she gritted her teeth as she answered "Don't give me a fuckin reason to." while holding his gaze steadly, stiffening her spine, showing not an ounce of the fear this guy had rising in her currently. Something was off about him, she just couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

The guy looked back towards her uncle's house and asked, "Family trouble?"

"More like my bitch of a cousin's raising holy hell to get her way. Other than that? None of your damn business." Sierra answered, lighting one of her 'forbidden' cigarettes, as she exhaled and then called out as loudly as possible, "Can ya pipe the hell down in there, Bells? The neighbors and the whole freaking county hear you. Seriously, it's retarded." before muttering to herself "overdramatic bitch. Has everything handed to her, still she pisses and moans about everything she's got."

The guy sat down next to her, she stood, her back still stiff as she looked at him, said casually, "My uncle's got a gun."

The guy laughed that deep rolling laugh again as he asked calmly, "Afraid of me, are we?"

"Not so much afraid as creeped the fuck out. If I were afraid of you, dick, I'd run. Do you see me running right now?" Sierra asked as he studied her intently a moment, a curious look coming over his face as he muttered 'Interesting.'

"What's going to be interesting is how I'm gonna explain away the damage I do to your skull, buddy, if you don't piss off and leave me be." Sierra said with a nervous edge in her voice as she covertly dug into one of her pockets, feeling the cool heaviness of the pocketknife buried down inside.

"If I were you, I wouldn't do what you're thinking of doing.. My girlfriend gets really, really mad." the guy said as Sierra shrugged and said "You'd be askin for it if I did."

Out of nowhere, a gray wolf broke through the bushes and tackled the pale guy to the ground, giving Sierra the necessary time to collect her wits, mentally kicking herself for mouthing off to a probable serial killer, and run as fast as she could into her uncle's house, and up the stairs into Charlotte's room, slamming the door behind her.

She flopped down on the bed, and let out a few long and ragged breaths as she rolled over onto her stomach and docked her Ipod, turning up Metallica to block out the arguing going on below between Charlie and Bella. Charlotte was gone with Jacob somewhere, they were actually heading back now.

A few minutes later, the door was knocked on and the room that had been empty was filled with people.. Jacob and Charlotte, with Embry standing in the doorway, watching her with the usual strange look on his face that he seemed to get as of late.

"Shut the door. Trust me, it's been going on for over an hour now, it's not stopping anytime soon." Sierra muttered as her eyes got lost in Embrys for a few moments. He cleared his throat and turning down the Ipod he stood next to, he cleared off a pile of her clothes from the second bed in the room, and flopped down as he asked, "What in the hell are you listening to?"

"Metallica." Sierra answered as Charlotte looked at her, then at Embry, then whispered something to Jacob who said casually, "We're gonna go outside." as they edged out of the room, laughing as soon as the door was shut. Sierra swore a little, she knew what Charlotte was up to.

"So.. We're locked in, apparently." she said casually as Embry groaned a little and then said quietly, "Yeah.. I thought I heard them locking the door from the outside."

"Fuck." Sierra muttered as she said "If you wanna get outta here, the window's over there." nodding at the open bay window as Embry said calmly, "Only if you want me to go."

"Not especially, no. I had the living shit sca.. Nevermind." she said, stopping herself before going any farther. She just wasn't sure if she wanted to try and logicalize what'd just happened, the creep in the woods, how she just got the feeling he'd been standing there, waiting on something or someone, watching her uncle's house for one reason or another.

"What?" Embry asked, of course, knowing what she was about to tell him, because he'd been the wolf that attacked the vampire who'd sort of been trying to talk to her just now in the woods. And he'd wanted to strangle her for standing there, baiting the guy, really.

It'd scared the living hell out of him.

A lot of things she did scared the living hell out of him since she'd come back to Forks. It was like she didn't care anymore, that she felt like nothing mattered. And he got it, but it still scared the hell out of him.

"This guy.. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear the jerk was watching uncle Charlie's house. I'm hoping hurricane Bella calms down, so I can go down and talk to him about it.. I mean he is a cop.. And this guy was freaking creepy." Sierra admitted as Embry nodded and then said quietly, "Heard you got in a fight today."

"Hardly a fight. This one girl was being stupid, so I punched her. Your typical stuck up princess type." Sierra said as she looked up and at Embry for a few moments, standing and taking the picture he was looking at, that sat on her nightstand out of his hands.

"It's my mom and dad." she said quietly as he nodded and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, really. You're born, you live and sooner or later, you die." Sierra lied as she looked around the room, trying to keep from cracking and letting it all out. Embry seemed to appear out of nowhere, sitting next to her as he leaned her against him and said quietly, "Look, we weren't ever close, but I know it has to hurt. If you want to show it, you can. I'm not going to be a dick and go tell everyone you were up here crying or something."

She studied him a moment and then said quietly, "It wouldn't matter anyway. Crying doesn't fix anything." as she sighed and shrugged a little, trying to distance herself, reluctant to actually do so. For some reason, when she was around him, she felt a little better. Not much, granted, but a little better.

He smiled to himself a little. Maybe she was going to eventually learn to let other people in, let him in. If he kept trying to be her friend, it couldn't hurt to hope.

He did have a lot riding on it, after all.

"It doesn't fix anything, but it does make you feel a little better.. Then you're not exploding." Embry said as he looked at her, laughing when she scowled at him and said "I don't explode. I just get mad, get my anger out there, and I'm good. It's the being sad and stuff I don't do so well with." as she bit her lower lip and then looked at him, asked warily, "Why are you being nice to me? I mean I treated you like crap when we were kids. You owe me nothing."

He shrugged and then said casually, "I was normally mean to you first, Si." as he looked at her and added, "Besides, who says I have to owe you anything to be nice to you?"

"Nothing, it's just.. I'm not used to people being nice without some other reason.. It's been a really long time since that's happened." Sierra admitted as she folded up her t shirts, put them in the white wooden drawer for her clothes that sat next to the closet.

Embry held up a t shirt and asked, "You like metal and punk music a lot, don't you?"

She nodded and took the shirt quickly then said apologetically, "It was my dad's t shirt.. He kinda got me into some of the bands I listen to.." as she looked at the almost ancient Ramones shirt and sighed a little. She really missed her father, because when her father died, it was almost as if her mother stopped trying to be a mother, got so consumed in her grief and trying to mask it, drown it or escape it, she forgot she even had a kid for the most part.

She knew that her mother loved her deep down, of course, her mother just hadn't ever really been good at showing it. Especially after her father died.

Embry nodded as he said quietly, "Wish I'd met my dad."

Sierra smiled a little and then said "I'm pretty sure he was a great guy. You're not a totally bad guy." as she looked at him, getting lost in his eyes again a little, running her fingers through her hair as she cleared her throat and said aloud, "So.. What in the actual hell is there to do around here?" as he shrugged and said "You're asking the wrong guy. Not cool enough to get invited many places apparently."

She studied him a moment, having the passing thoughts that apparently 90 percent of the girls in Forks and La Push were idiots, but she shoved the pesky thought out of her mind as she said with a slight grin, "Same here, don't feel bad."

He looked at her and then said casually, with a masked, although not well masked note of jealousy in his voice, "Not what I heard.. I heard some guy named Ben asked you to go to a movie with him or something."

Sierra chuckled and said "And did you happen to hear what I told the guy, by chance?"

"Nope." Embry said as he found himself migrating closer to where she stood, looking at her intently. She migrated a little closer and said with a casual smirk, "Told him I'd really rather not. Then I gave him Bella's number. You should have seen her face too, it was awesome."

He chuckled and smiling as he migrated even closer, said quietly, "I bet it was."

"She chased me all over the cafeteria. Swearing at me." Sierra laughed as she suddenly realized how close they stood and stepped back a little, her cheeks flushing as she did so.

What was it about him that seemed almost magnetic lately?

"Your phone's ringing." Embry said as she shrugged and said "If it's important, they'll call back. Probably my grandmother, probably wanting to bitch at me about not choosing to live with 'good people' like herself and coming here instead. She thinks everyone's below her, I really hate it when she does that." Sierra stated as Embry nodded and then asked, "So.. how do you like living here?"

She smiled and said quietly, "It's getting better." as she looked at him and asked, "Wanna hang out sometime?" as Embry asked with a smirk, "Depends.. What won't end in us fighting?"

"Oh come on. .You know half those times we fought, Call, you were egging it on."

"Me? Seriously. You were the one who egged things on. You stole my remote control car and then ran it into the creek."

She stifled a laugh and then said "I did, didn't I? But you smashed mine with Charlie's hammer."

"Only after you smeared peanut butter all over my hands then ran your hair under my nose while I was sleeping in the tree fort Jacob and I had in the woods." Embry said as she looked at him and laughed a little before saying "Thanks.. I haven't laughed in so long.."

"Any time." Embry said as he smiled and then added, "If you're not still a chicken about heights.. We can go cliff diving.."

"Me? Afraid of heights?" Sierra asked as he nodded and said "Is that a yes?"

"Is that a challenge?" Sierra asked as he shrugged and said "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." before walking to the door, turning the knob.

"They pretended to lock us in. Didn't they?" Sierra asked, grumbling a little as Embry nodded and then asked, "So.. Maybe tomorrow we can hang out or something?"

"Maybe. If I happen to show up, we can hang out." Sierra said casually, an air of slight caution in her voice. She'd been about to say no, but that'd come out instead.

"I'm gonna go. But if you wanna talk.. Here's my number." Embry said as he wrote his phone number on her hand. She bit her lower lip and took the pen, writing her number down as she said "Likewise. You know, for a pain in the ass you turned into a pretty awesome guy."

"Good to know.. And the same goes for you, Sierra." Embry said as she felt a shiver pass through her arms as he said her full name. She tried not to think about how sexy his voice sounded as he said it, then she kicked herself for even thinking about him in that way.

They used to hate each other.

He left to go home and she flopped back onto her bed, taking a few deep breaths. "Maybe we really can be friends without things getting weird and complicated or worse, me screwing it up somehow." she muttered to herself as she bit her lower lip and groaned inwardly.

She couldn't let herself get close to him. She didn't want to eventually lose him too.. And if they did wind up dating, and it messed up, she'd lose a guy she cared about AND a friend.

And she'd lost more than enough already.


	5. just hanging out right

The sound of My Own Prison by Creed blasted from the otherwise empty carport/detached garage area at the back of her uncle's house when Embry pulled up and got out with Jacob. He wandered into the building, watched her from the doorway, his thumbs hooked into the loop of his jeans, staring at her intently as she worked out, sending a frenzied fury of kicks and high kicks, punches and jabs to a workout bag that she'd apparently put up, which was suspended from the steel beam that ran across the middle of the makeshift building serving as roof support.

The bag caught her off guard and she went down, he chuckled a little and stepped completely into the room, his hand reaching out, shutting off the music for a moment as he walked over, helped her up, hauling her off the floor as if she were nothing to lift.

"I coulda got up." she muttered as she stopped to towel her sweat dampened hair and look at him, asking after a few moments, "When did you get here?"

"Came with Jacob. He's gonna take Charlotte to Port Angeles, they're going to a movie or something.. I remembered you said you wanted to hang out sometime.. Today's okay?"

Sierra mentally kicked herself. She had promised him. But she'd expected him to forget it like so many other people seemed to forget or break promises to her. She sighed and taking a gulp of the sports drink that sat nearby, she said quietly, "Yeah.. Let me go get dressed." and turned to walk out, towards the house. Embry stood there, processing the strange look in her eyes just now, when he'd shown up, as he said he would, so they could hang out for the afternoon.

It almost looked like she was surprised or something. Of course, he really didn't know that not many people kept their promises to her either.

Or that she'd figured he was just saying that to be saying it.

Sierra jogged up the stairs and into her room, shielding her eyes when she realized she'd just stormed in on Jacob and Charlotte making out again. It happened a lot lately, but she was just so grateful that she was with family, and she felt like she had a home at last, that she didn't complain too much.

Throwing her dressers open, she started digging through clothes as she fumed to herself, Charlotte speaking up and asking, "You okay?"

"Not really, no.. Apparently, Embry remembered we were going to hang out this afternoon.. Trouble with this is I didn't, however, and now I have no clean clothes to wear. I just put all mine in the wash room."

Charlotte dug around, tossed jeggings, a slightly oversized PINK sweater and some gray Uggs to her cousin and said "Here. Will that work?"

"It'll have to. I'm not getting all dressed up just to hang out. It's not like he'd notice if I did, anyway."

Jacob snickered and was about to say something about how wrong she was, but Charlotte gave him a death glare which pretty much silenced that.

"Damn it, naturally that independent wrestling match would finally finish downloading now." Sierra muttered as she stopped at their shared desk, looking at the download progress of a match she'd been trying to download all morning, Jon Moxley versus Nick Gage.

"Why the hell do you watch that stuff?" Charlotte asked as Sierra shrugged and Jacob spoke up and said "Embry watches it too. He's more into boxing though."

Sierra gave Jacob a strange look then said "Either way, I'm gone.. I'll be back later. You two do not screw on my bed. Anywhere else in this room is fine.. Just do not screw on my bed."

"Can't make any promises." Jacob teased as Charlotte pinched him and they watched her bolt back down the stairs.

She skidded to a stop in front of Embry's waiting dirtbike a few seconds later, and he smiled at her, held out a helmet. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Sierra said as she reluctantly got onto the back of his dirtbike, and held on tentatively, which only lasted a few seconds. The bike picked up speed and she found herself totally pressed against his back. Embry smirked to himself as they took off down the road, heading back to the reservation.

"So.. What are we doing today?" Sierra asked in curiousity as Embry shrugged and said "Pretty much anything. I mean cliff diving's out, the weather's not good for it."

"Oh. Damn." Sierra joked as Embry chuckled and said "Right.. Because you're so fond of heights."

"Shut it, Call." she muttered as she tentatively edged her arms around his waist, leaned against him a little, her head coming to rest on his shoulder.

"I didn't know you boxed." Embry said over the noise of the bike, Sierra nodding as she answered back, "Yeah.. I actually do MMA.. Or I did. They don't really have a class for it at the gym in town. Oh.. I made you a thing." Sierra said as she fumbled around in the pocket of her leather jacket, produced a slim jewel case with a cd inside.

"What's that?"

"It's music, duh. I burned you a cd with some of that stuff you said you liked when you were at my cousins the other day." Sierra blurted as she palmed her face and immediately thought about just how 'not smooth' that'd sounded, while also wondering why she'd even burnt him a cd in the first place.

After all, he might have just been saying he liked it, but he really didn't. She didn't know, really.

"You're gonna have to look over all the shit in my room. But this match is coming on and it only just downloaded, and I really, really want to watch it." Embry said as they stopped in his driveway, Sierra getting off the bike. He missed her body being sandwiched against him as soon as she moved, but he reminded himself that he had to take things painfully slow with her.

She was, after all, just coming out of a really, really bad time in her life.

"What match?"

"Moxley versus Gage, actually." Embry admitted sheepishly as Sierra clapped her hands together and said "Gotta say, Mox is going to royally beat his ass."

"You sure?" Embry asked, a smirk on his face as he looked at her for a moment then asked, "Whoa, wait.. You watch this stuff?"

"Pretty much any form of violence that's in a ring, yeah.. My dad.. He was into it." Sierra muttered as she looked at him and muttered "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Embry said as he unlocked the door to the house, letting them into it.

After loading down their arms with junk food, they flopped down onto his bed, turning on his laptop, turning on the match. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, he looked over, found her scooted closer to him a little as she yelled at the screen. He smiled to himself, she shrugged it off, explained away quickly, "Can't see shit on the computer, your big head blocking the line of vision."

"Haha, right." Embry joked as he leaned in a little, wiping off a smudge of chocolate from her cheek as he laughed and said quietly, "Still a messy eater I see."

"Am not." she said through a mouth full as she asked him, "Wanna watch the Smackdown from Friday? I always have to watch by myself and it's not so much fun."

"Sure." Embry muttered as he leaned in and stole a hand full of Reese's Pieces from the bag she was hoarding in front of her, saying in amusement, "Don't get all hopped up on sugar."

"Right, because it happens all the time." she said as she found herself getting lost in his eyes, but blinking, making herself focus on the match again.

Okay, so she felt things for him.. But she wasn't going to let herself turn into some mushy pile of goo just yet.. Besides, they were becoming friends, she didn't wanna mess that she highly doubted he saw her as anything more than friends. He was just being nice because he knew what she was going through right now. That was all.

Wasn't it?


End file.
